Search results for "impact"
showing 10 items of 1703 documents
Raising environmental awareness through education
2016
This paper presents a method for involving learners in awareness-raising and real changes in consumption. The described method is a teaching assignment comprising a self-audit of household chemicals' consumption, system thinking to find the main causes and consequences, finding solutions and taking action. Findings about students' household chemicals consumption patterns and their reactions one month and six months after the assignment are presented and analysed. We found that the students' households use considerable amounts of chemicals and in most cases do not pay attention to their health and environmental impacts when making purchasing decisions. When doing this, students were able to …
Economic Impacts of Cultural Events on Local Economies: An Input—Output Analysis of the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival
2005
This paper examines the economic impacts of Finland's Kaustinen Folk Music Festival. The impacts are calculated on output, demand and wages, employment and on national and regional taxes. The results indicate, first, that the effects of the festival on output are about ₠1.7 million. Kaustinen can also be seen as a good investment for the local municipality, as regional tax revenues increased by about ₠65,600 in the year studied, while the annual subsidy was ₠40,365. From the perspective of the Keski-Pohjanmaa region as a whole, the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival has a substantial impact on regional incomes through subsidies (about one-fifth of the costs of the festival is offset by subsidie…
Resource consumption and environmental impacts of the agrofood sector: life cycle assessment of italian citrus-based products
2009
Though many studies concern the agro-food sector in the EU and Italy, and its environmental impacts, literature is quite lacking in works regarding LCA application on citrus products. This paper represents one of the first studies on the environmental impacts of citrus products in order to suggest feasible strategies and actions to improve their environmental performance. In particular, it is part of a research aimed to estimate environmental burdens associated with the production of the following citrus-based products: essential oil, natural juice and concentrated juice from oranges and lemons. The life cycle assessment of these products, published in a previous paper, had highlighted sign…
Sustainable production and consumption in remote working conditions due to COVID-19 lockdown in Italy: An environmental and user acceptance investiga…
2021
Abstract In response to the disruptive changes brought upon our society by the COVID-19 pandemic, most work activities and service providers had to resort to remote working. This is credited to reduce emissions for transportation, however the role of forced confinement within dwellings, especially if not designed for hosting working stations, deserves to be properly evaluated in terms of both user acceptance and long-term environmental impact. In this work, a dedicated survey campaign is used for investigating the potential pros and cons of remote working. In more detail, logistic regression and generalized linear models are used for capturing the effect of several independent variables on …
Port–City Relationship and the Environment: Literature Survey and Methodological Approach for Project Appraisal in Presence of Environmental External…
2015
AbstractIn times of increasing environmental awareness, the port–city relationship has gained new meaning because ports have been seen as the origin of both negative and positive externalities affecting public welfare. While the former are the result of port expansion, the latter are the result of transforming obsolete port areas into recreational facilities. Therefore, to support effective policymaking, this paper considers the following question: What is the scope of economic valuation of these externalities in the context of port-project appraisal? Considering their nonmarket nature, which makes economic valuation more difficult, a contingent valuation method is introduced as an economic…
The impact of COVID-19 on alternative and local food systems and the potential for the sustainability transition: Insights from 13 countries
2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major stress test for the agri-food system. While most research has analysed the impact of the pandemic on mainstream food systems, this article examines how alternative and local food systems (ALFS) in 13 countries responded in the first months of the crisis. Using primary and secondary data and combining the Multi-Level Perspective with social innovation approaches, we highlight the innovations and adaptations that emerged in ALFS, and how these changes have created or supported the sustainability transition in production and consumption systems. In particular, we show how the combination of social and technological innovation, greater citizen involvement,…
Optimal damping coefficient for a class of continuous contact models
2020
AbstractIn this study, we develop an analytical formula to approximate the damping coefficient as a function of the coefficient of restitution for a class of continuous contact models. The contact force is generated by a logical point-to-point force element consisting of a linear damper connected in parallel to a spring with Hertz force–penetration characteristic, while the exponent of deformation of the Hertz spring can vary between one and two. In this nonlinear model, it is assumed that the bodies start to separate when the contact force becomes zero. After separation, either the restitution continues or a permanent penetration is achieved. Therefore, this model is capable of addressing …
Free-surface flows solved by means of SPH schemes with numerical diffusive terms
2010
A novel system of equations has been defined which contains diffusive terms in both the continuity and energy equations and, at the leading order, coincides with a standard weakly-compressible SPH scheme with artificial viscosity. A proper state equation is used to associate the internal energy variation to the pressure field and to increase the speed of sound when strong deformations/compressions of the fluid occur. The increase of the sound speed is associated to the shortening of the time integration step and, therefore, allows a larger accuracy during both breaking and impact events. Moreover, the diffusive terms allows reducing the high frequency numerical acoustic noise and smoothing …
Impact evaluation of reactive assessment strategies to address social loafing by promoting student cooperation and encouraging mutual support
2013
Cooperative work is an effective strategy when team members are kept motivated and collaborate towards the achievement of a common goal. However, social loafing may significantly reduce educational gains. In this article, we analyse whether assessment-based reactive strategies that exploit existing emotional relationships between the team members are effective as a response to unequal commitment in cooperative tasks. In particular, an adaptive negotiation process that permits students to improve their grades by improving future scores obtained by free riders is suggested. Findings support that these types of strategies may have a great impact in fostering peer tutoring, student cooperation …
Social comparison, coping and depression in people with spinal cord injury
2006
The present study among 70 people with spinal cord injury examined the prevalence and correlates of identification (seeing others as a potential future) and contrast (seeing others in competitive terms) in social comparison as related to coping and depression. The most prevalent social comparison strategy was downward contrast (a positive response to seeing others who were worse-off), followed by upward identification (a positive response to perceiving better-off others as a potential future), downward identification (a negative response to perceiving worse-off others as a potential future), and upward contrast (a negative response to seeing others who were better-off). Those with less seve…